Let’s plays can be okay for new games, but I’d look into emulating something on your phone. If you crave the pc experience (which I totally get), you can probably get an old laptop for very cheap, slap linux on it and have fun.
Freespace is a bigger game with more ships and is more military focused. This game is more about being a mercenary/freelancer with very good voice acting and the world feels fleshed out. It’s also super easy, comparatively.
I do think it’s interesting you find video games have an entry barrier that’s higher than, say, music, even though the vast majority of people don’t have a way to listen to vinyl, as per your own example.
Nowadays people need phones, so depending on the game they can indeed experience them is some form.
Over time they realised that, while holiday windows or whatever have high sales, if there’s a better or more popular game coming out then, yours will just be forgotten.
That said, most “industry specialists” are just glorified influencers, so take it with a grain of salt